Maree
dictated the tempo in their Presidents National Cup Quarter Finals to
beat UCD Marian by 31 points in Stillorgan. The Galway side made their
hosts to pay for almost every mistake with a fast break which lead to
easy baskets and a 104 point tally. It was a characteristic of the game
which was evident right from the first quarter as Maree established an
18-13 lead. Invariably it was Kenneth Hansberry on the finishing end of
the fast break and the lead was 55-35 at half time. Maree will play the
winners of Fr. Mathews and BFG Neptune in the last four.

Brunell
came away from Oranmore with a hard earned win in the U18 Women’s
National Cup Quarter-Finals against a Maree side who had won their five
previous games in the competition. Dayna Finn had been averaging 15.8ppg
to date and netted 19 points here but Brunell had the added experience
of players who are also through to the U20 Women’s National Cup Semis
including Alex Macheta, who scored a game high 23 points.

Portlaoise
Panthers are through to the Semi-Finals of the U18 Women’s National Cup
after a 58-50 win over Liffey Celtics. A half-time lead of 31-18 proved
telling as Liffey Celtics looked to come back into the game in the
second half. Sorcha Tiernan was scorer in chief for the Kildare side.
The U16 international was the top scorer for Celtics’ Women’s Premier
League side on Saturday night but was again on the losing side as
Ireland teammate Claire Melia confirmed her status as the competition’s
top scorer with 28 points.

DCU
Mercy took a deserved win to book their place in the Semi-Finals of the
U18 Women’s National Cup at the expense of Dublin rivals Meteors. There
was only 10 points between the sides at the interval, but DCU Mercy
amassed an unassailable lead in the second half through the rebounding
prowess of Rachel Huijsdens and the scoring ability of Anna Brennan and
Sara Guebaili. Both Billy Jean Byrne and Rachel Leavey still managed to
break double digits for Meteors.

Pyrobel Killester
put in a complete performance to account for DCU Mercy and reach the
semi-finals of the Women’s National Cup for the third year in a row. DCU
Mercy looked sharp through Erica Cody Kennedy Smith in the opening
exchanges but the young forward had to be carried off after a nasty fall
in the first quarter and Killester never looked like dropping the
tempo.

Coach Karl Kilbride was happy to see his side book their place in the semi-finals but he is not looking ahead too far just yet.

“We had a really good game, we were excellent start to finish. We jumped out to a lead in the first quarter and extended it as the game went on - we were very happy with the win.

We want to win every game in front of us. Our form has been up and down as I said but we fully believe we can beat anybody on any given day. We want to win the league and we want to win the Cup - obviuosly the Cup is special. For most people it holds a special place for them and it’s the one everyone wants to win. We want to win every game though be that league or Cup.”

Despite the best efforts of Aoife McDermott and co, the Killester line up was just too tuned in on the night and 24 points from Raeshel Contreras paved the win for the victory. Kilbride is now looking to carry that form on for the remainder of the season.

“Ya, we’ve had some excellent results this season so far and we’ve had some poor performances too so we’re looking for consistency at the moment. We know we can put up points it’s a question of getting stops. I said before the game that the Cup is about getting the stops we managed to do that last night and if we can keep that defensive stability and being able to execute that, well, it will bode well for the rest of the season.”

Maxol
WIT Wildcats made their move in the second quarter to take control of
their Munster derby with UL Huskies and reach the semi-finals of the
Women’s National Cup. Leading 16-12 after ten minutes, Mick Evans side
ramped things up through Cathy Kavanagh and the in-form Jazmen Boone to
lead by 24 points at half time.

Evans was delighted to see his side into the last four and in the process gain revenge for defeat in the cup to the Limerick side last year.

“It’s nice for the girls to get one over on Huskies as they knocked them out of the Cup last year and it keeps the momentum going as well for us. That’s five wins in a row now and last year they won four all season so we’re going in the right direction.”

Wildcats, the former Cup specialists, were neck and neck with their Munster rivals, edging the first quarter 16-12 but they dominated the second period, roaring into a commanding lead. With Boone and Katie Fox leading the way they racked up the scores and jumped into a 44-20 lead at the interval. They pushed that to twenty-six point advantage going into the final quarter but UL hit back and cut the lead to single figures at one stage.

“We built up a big lead and that should have been that really but we let UL back into it and they got the momentum and that was hard to stop,” Evans explained. “We fouled their American at one stage as she went for a three and she made all her free throws to bring it down to nine points but that was as close as it got. We brought our experienced players back in and they managed to close it out after that.”

A 28-point
fourth quarter put Meteors through to the semi-finals of the Women’s
National Cup at the expense of Courtyard Liffey Celtics in Leixlip. Mark
Byrne’s hard working side were behind at the end of each of the first
three quarters as Sorcha Tiernan and Suzanne Maguire turned in fine
shooting performances for the home side.

Coach Mark Byrne was pleased with the resolve shown by his side to stay in the game and eventually prosper.

“ I think we
were 21-9 down at the end of the first quarter, they got off to a great
start, a great shooting start. Our girls stuck with it though and
really stuck with it when we really thought the game might get away from
us and we ended up with a great fourth quarter to win it.

“For us it’s
really about being positive with intensity. When we combine the two we
can be very good. Once the girls kept their focus and when we switched
to a zone defence too it really made a difference. It slowed them down a
little bit – defensive rebounding as well was key for us, Liffey are a
really good offensive rebounding team so once we kept them off the
boards again that was a big key for us.”

Next up in the semi-final are holders and Byrne admits that there’s a sense of excitement building already.

“We don’t
want to look too far ahead, we have a tough game against Brunell coming
up on Saturday but you know, I think we have three league games before
the semi-final and they will definitely occupy our minds but if we do
think about Glanmire, we’re really looking forward to it. They are a
fine team, we gave them a good game earlier on in the season, we stayed
with them for long periods of time, and ultimately they pulled ahead of
us but it’s the first time Meteors are in a Cup semi-final in a long
time as far as I know so there’s a good buzz about the place already.”

Team
Montenotte Hotel showed all their resolve to navigate past Singleton
SuperValu Brunell and into the last four of the Women’s National Cup.
Brunell had two players hit the 20 point mark but Niamh Dwyer topped the
lot with 28 points as the Glanmire side defended a five point lead with
30 seconds left.

Coach Mark Scannel was pleased to see his side book their place in the last four but admitted that it took a huge performance from Niamh Dwyer to eventually pull them across the line.

“There was a lot going on over the day with the change of venue and all that but we got there in the end and we’re happy to be in the Cup still - there was a few shocks around the place and that could very easily have been us but we used our experience to get there.”

“I didn’t feel that it was a game we were going to lose at any stage and we went ten points up during the third quarter and it could have been twenty but we made mistakes and we needed Niamh’s points to steady the ship when they came back at us. "

The Glanmire side blazed into a 41-31 lead at the break thanks to a good spell midway through the second quarter but Brunell fired back in the third and actually led near the final moments. TMH rallied though and snuck into a 48-45 lead at the buzzer.

The final quarter was a real tussle as Brunell snatched the lead at one stage but the irrepressible Niamh Dwyer took the game by the scruff of the neck and in the end the favourites saw out the victory.

Pyrobel Killester
are back in the semi-finals of the Men’s National Cup after a two year
absence thanks to a 100-51 win over Belfast Star at the Irish Wheelchair
Association. Brian O’Malley’s side were trailing by 12 points from the
first leg, but needed just five minutes to erase the deficit and
eventually powered through to triple figures inside the forty minutes.
Belfast Star Head Coach Neal McCotter was magnanimous. “We
were outplayed,” he said. “Killester deserved to win the game and the
tie and we were very poor. It’s back to the drawing board on Monday
night.”

Star looked to
rally in the second quarter through the athleticism of Sasha Seymore but
it was Jermaine Turner who was the star of the show. The forward turned
in a powerhouse performance with 18 points in the first half to seal
the tie. Eoghain Kiernan’s buzzer beater put the margin on the night out
to 20 before Turner combined with Paul Dick for a breakaway dunk and
spun to the baseline for a fadeaway shot for Killester to lead 49-20 at
half time.

For Turner, the
lessons learned from the first leg were crucial. “Fair play to them, for
the first leg they really spaced us out and we worked on that in
practice to try to cut down on their driving angles and contest their
shots,” he said. “I think we did a good job on that.”

A couple of
three-pointers from Shawn Vanzant improved Belfast Star’s scoring return
in the second half. Killester though, were relentless and pushed all
the way to the 100 point mark. “It feels good,” said Turner. “It feels
like we have as good a chance as anybody now, but we’re taking it one
game at a time. Whoever’s next, we’ll prepare for them.”

GCD Swords Thunder
came through their two-legged affair against Eanna with a win in each
game and a 170-120 aggregate score to progress in the Hula Hoops Men’s
National Cup. For the second year in a row however, the North Dubliners
have been drawn as one of the two teams who will have to play an
additional a single-legged Round Two game so it will take another win to
reach the semi-finals.

Luke Thompson had
eight points in the first quarter for the home side but Swords knew a
strong opening half could kill off the tie and led 26-15 after ten
minutes. Mike Garrow had six points in a row before the first break in
his second appearance for the club and Isaac Westbrooks ramped up his
scoring in the second period.

“We were executing
very well and it was important we bounced back this week,” said GCD
Swords Thunder Coach David Baker. “As much as you don’t want to, the
cushion can sit in the back of your head and we took our foot off the
pedal in the third quarter but we called a timeout which allowed us to
kick on again.”

Isaac Westbrook
proved the catalyst. He took a long-range Michael Goj pass and turned
Conor Gallagher in one movement before accelerating to the key and
hitting the jump shot before the cover arrived. Eanna Coach Ciaran
MacEvilly said: “We had an awful lot of turnovers and an awful lot of
defensive errors but we definitely showed signs of improvement over our
previous two games against them. That was encouragins so we definitely
feel like we could make a game out of it when we face them in the league
again next week.”

Templeogue are
through to the semi-finals of the Men’s National Cup for the first time
in their history after a 79-78 win over SSE Airtricity Moycullen at the
Oblate Hall. The Dublin side had brought a 10 point cushion back from
the first leg in Galway but Head Coach Mark Keenan was pleased with how
his side toughed out the win down the stretch for keep their record at
9-0 for the season to day. “It was a battle all the way to the finish,”
he said. “It wasn’t pretty but I was delighted that we rounded out. Even
not playing so well we hit some big shots and got some stops.”

SSE Airtricity
Moycullen went straight to work in leading 24-23 for the first quarter.
“We knew it was a case of just competing and looking to win the game,”
said Coach Nollaig Cunningham. “After that it would be a case of chasing
the deficit in the fourth quarter. But considering what happened, the
performance we put in was exceptional.”

What happened
changed the complexion of the game. A brief flare-up with 40 seconds to
the half up led to the ejection of Moycullen duo Dylan Cunningham and
Ronan O’Sullivan and Templeogue’s Conor Grace.

Mark Keenan said:
“It was disruptive for both teams. A player of Conor’s calibre is always
a loss. I’m sure it will be scrutinized.”

Moycullen led by
four points on the night with two and a half minutes to go. “To be
honest, they gave us a good hammering on the offensive boards but we
shored it up. This was a big goal for us,” said Keenan. Michael
Bonaparte and Sean Flood hit 29 points apiece before Tomas Swiatowy came
off the bench to take back the lead from the free-throw line.

UCD Marian set up a
Men’s National Cup Round Two tie with GCD Swords Thunder by beating DCU
Saints 80-67 in Glasnevin. The South-siders were odds on to progress
after a dominant first leg performance, but Head Coach Ioannis Liapakis
was pleased with how his side applied themselves.

“It’s difficult
for players to keep focus when they know they have 31 points,” he said.
“We kept DCU to 24 points in the first half and that was our main
target.”

While UCD were
getting stops on one end of the floor, they were scoring at the other.
They raced out into an 8-0 lead in the first quarter and were up 16-9
after ten minutes. Daniel James hit six three-pointers in the game for a
total haul of 28 points.

DCU slowly began
to respond to Joey Boylan’s calls for a better showing. Kevin O’Hanlon
had two triples in the second quarter to make a game of it. “We got a
lot of good shots that we didn’t make so they opened up that 10 point
lead pretty easily. If our shots had gone down, it could have different.
But overall it was an improved performance.”

Saints’ new
American recruit Duane Johnson checked back into the game in the fourth
quarter to even things out. “He created a few problems for us,” said
Liapakis. We had to keep him off the boards because he was taking way
too many offensive rebounds but we were able to fix that.”

The meeting of GCD Swords Thunder and UCD Marian will be fixed before Christmas.

Fr Mathews teed up
a Senior Women’s National Cup Semi-Final meeting with Oblate Dynamos
with a hard fought 57-46 win over Team DenJoes American Style in
Castleisland.

The Cork side drew
on all the experience of Fiona Lynch and Dearbhla Breen to pull clear
against a determined home side. The lead was built in increments until
13 points separated the sides with 10 minutes remaining. Team DenJoes
were able to pull the lead back to single digits but not before Fr
Mathews could close out the win.

Keane’s SuperValu
Killorglin and C&S Blue Demons served up one of the most gripping
cup ties in recent memory, but in a game which can only have one winner
it was the reigning champions who pulled through by the narrowest of
margins. It needed to periods of overtime to find a winner. The two
sides went basket for basket for much of the opening half. Killorglin
duo Andrew Fitzgerald and Dan Griffin were scoring well against their
old club and helped open up a nine point gap heading into the fourth
quarter. Demons clawed their way back with the help of the in-form Shane
Duggan and Demons eventually pulled through in the 50th minute.

Fr Mathews made
home advantage count in the National Cup with a 13-point win over Ulster
Elks. Elks made the long trip south with a number of players who’d
featured in the U18 Women’s National Shield Final including Verity
O’Connor and Anna Maguire who were leaders on the floor with a combined
38 points.

Fr. Mathews
however had come through a tough sectional process and forged a 12 point
lead by half time through some fine play from Abbie Jeffery and Niamh
Lynch.

Tridents of
Dublin recorded their second win over Cork opposition to reach the
Semi-Finals of the Hula Hoops Women’s National Intermediate Club
Championships. The Castleknock side were 74-58 winners over Carraig na
bhFear Rebels with the help of 19 points from Grainne McGlade. The
Rebels trailed by just eight points at half time and reduced a 14-point
deficit down to just four points in the second half. Foul trouble
allowed Tridents to steady the ship and pull through to the last four.

St. Brendan’s described their 87-84
victory over Phoenix BC in the Men’s National Intermediate Club
Championships as the ‘biggest win for the club in four years.’ The
Tralee side will meet the winners of Cork Celts and North Star in the
semi-finals of the inaugural competition. It
looked for long periods of the game like the win belonged to Phoenix
BC. The Ulster side by seven after 10 minutes, eight by half time and
were still three points ahead with eight minutes to go. Fergal
O’Sullivan and Kieran ‘Star’ Donaghy led the comeback to finish with 23
and 21 points respectively.

C&S UCC
Demons became the first team to qualify for the 2016 Hula Hoops Men’s
National Cup Semi-Finals with an 88-67 win at home against UL Eagles.
The defending champions trailed 19-11 after 10 minutes but a 30-point
second quarter allayed any fears that UL Eagles could stage an upset.
With Colin O’Reilly and Roy Downey absent through injury, scoring
responsibilities duly fell to Carlton Cuff who stepped up with 19
points.

The game-high
however went to Staats Battle. It was another bright start from Eagles
and the American point guard played right to the end to finish with 23
points.

C&S UCC
Demons Assistant Coach Troy O’Mahony said: “It was a good win. They had a
much better start than we did but we pulled it back in the second
quarter and our bench did a great job for us.” Liam Carmody was another
to showcase the Cork side’s strength in depth with 11 points. Eagles
trailed by just 8 at the break but Demons were able to pull clear with
the aggregate score on the minds of both squads. “We have no new
injuries to worry about everyone got good minutes. We can just focus on
the league now for the next few weeks,” said O’Mahony.

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Part of FIBA Europe, the European Governing body, and of FIBA, the World Governing body, B.I. is responsible for the promotion and administration of basketball throughout Ireland and for Irish international participation.